Construction Spending Hopped Up 0.2% in June

Construction Spending Hopped Up 0.2% in June

Construction spending totaled $772 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) in June, up 0.2% from the rate in May but down 4.7% from June 2010, the Census Bureau reported on Monday. The estimates for May and April were revised upward by $17 billion (2.2%) and $10 billion (1.4%), respectively.

Monthly gains were concentrated in private nonresidential construction, which rose 1.8% for the month, with increases in nine of the 11 segments that Census breaks out in its press release, but fell 1.3% year-over-year. In descending order of current size, those segments include:

  • Power construction, +0.6% for the month and +13% year-over-year
  • Commercial (retail, warehouse and farm) construction, +3.1% and +2.3%
  • Manufacturing, +4.0% and -11.8%
  • Healthcare, +2.3% and -3.0%
  • Office, 0.5% and -10.1%

Private residential construction edged down -0.3% and -2.1%, with the largest segment—improvements—down 0.5% and up 8.2%:

  • New single-family construction, +0.3% and -11%
  • New multifamily, -2.8% and -10%

Public construction dropped -0.7% and -9.6%, with sharp decreases in the two largest components: highway and street construction, -1.6% and -10%; and educational, -4.1% and -13%.

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